


Tugs

by magequisition



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Admission of love, F/M, First Kiss, mention of first time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 10:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4873303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magequisition/pseuds/magequisition
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Romance really wasn't Jaida Cousland's thing. <br/>But then, suddenly, it was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tugs

     Men were fun.

     That was about as far as it went, as far as Jaida was concerned. True, she'd enjoyed their company from time to time (women's, too) but she felt no need to take it beyond that. There had been a short time when she'd pined briefly for Ser Gilmore, soon after he'd become a knight, but the man had made it very clear he felt the Teyrn's daughter - the youngest child, at that - was well off limits. So she'd moved on, taking her pleasures as she desired and skillfully dodging her mother's attempts to marry her off to the first eligible noble that expressed interest.

     Then the world imploded, she was drinking the blood of monsters, and she was on the road with what had to be the strangest group of people she'd ever encountered.

     And he was there.

     She felt the first tugs in her stomach the first night in camp, when she'd awoken to see him sitting near her, ready with comforting words for the nightmares he'd known would come. She ignored the calm that seemed to settle over her when his voice cut through the haze of the half-dream state that came with startling awake. It was, no doubt, simple relief at the danger being no longer imminent, at the sound of a familiar voice through the fog.

     The days passed - some slow, some terrifyingly quickly - and more often than not Jaida found herself walking near Alistair as the party moved from place to place. But it made sense, of course - they were the last two Grey Wardens, there was planning to do. They were, however reluctantly on their parts, the leaders (Alistair may have claimed she was the leader, but she had no intention of being the sole bearer of that responsibility), and so it was natural that they walked together, determining their next moves and preparing for battle.

     If they typically walked together in silence, elbows and hands occasionally brushing, that was entirely by fluke.

     And then he'd kissed her. Slowly, cautiously, aware of her hesitation. She could feel the tension in his body, ready to pull away if she showed even a momentary uncertainty in the action. But kissing she knew, kissing didn't scare her. And for someone who claimed inexperience, he was one of the better kissers she'd encountered. No, kissing didn't scare her, and she teased him about needing more testing to make sure it wasn't too soon.

     She teased him, of course, because the flips in her stomach when he looked at her like she was the most precious creation in Thedas, with a mix of warmth, nervousness, admiration, and barely restrained lust that she'd never seen before, did scare her. Those, she wasn't used to. Those, she'd sworn off. Feelings were complicated, and Jaida had never had the patience for complications.

"Just follow my lead, Alistair."

"Right. I'm going to...stop talking, now."

     And then his arms were around her, her face buried in his chest, and soft words brushed her ear.

     "Maker's breath, but I love you."

     And before a thought could cross her mind, she responded.

     "I love you, Alistair."

 

 


End file.
